Chapter 46: Silver Hairpin, New Corpse

*Hoo—* Qin Jiang frowned and took a deep breath. "Have I been giving you too much leeway?"

*Slap! Slap! *

Raising his hand, he delivered two slaps, and Zheng Deyu woke up, looking at Qin Jiang in a panic. "What are you doing?! Why are you hitting me!"

Qin Jiang did not speak; he grabbed the clothes on Zheng Deyu's chest and lifted his entire body up.

He walked outside the room and tossed him away with a wave of his hand.

Tian Shangfei, standing outside the room, saw a dark shadow fly out, and Zheng Deyu screamed as he crashed to the ground.

"Get back to your own home! Don't be an eyesore here!" Qin Jiang stood in the doorway and said coldly.

After speaking, he glanced at Tian Shangfei, who gave a start. "Boss! What are your orders!"

Qin Jiang shook his head slightly. "No need to call me until Old Meng returns."

After speaking, he looked at his body and patted it casually, causing a layer of mineral dust to fall to the ground.

Once his body was clean, he turned and entered the room, a wisp of Sha energy landing on the door to shut it directly.

Tian Shangfei stood where he was. "Got it, Boss! I'm off to guard the village entrance!"

Having said that, he left directly with several gang members.

Inside the room, Qin Jiang sat on a chair and visualized the Red Tiger Leap Stream Diagram, only managing to suppress the fire in his chest after a moment.

He closed his eyes and pondered; logically, the Tiger Sha intent of this Red Tiger Fist shouldn't be this strong, or at least it shouldn't have such a great impact on him personally.

Otherwise, how could this fist technique be practiced? He recalled that previously, neither Wang Shu, nor that Nie Dongsheng, nor even Gang Leader Lu had displayed such a state.

Perhaps he had overlooked something.

After returning, he could find Wang Shu and ask him.

He looked at the panel.

【Current Martial Arts】

Longevity Five Qi Technique (Second Layer) (210/400)

Iron Arm Fist (Perfected)

Earth Dragon Body (Second Layer) (160/300)

Red Tiger Fist (Second Layer) (10/900)

【Potential Point: 11.7】

The Longevity Five Qi Technique required 250 experience points for the first layer, and 400 for the second.

Under normal circumstances, the third layer would require 550 experience points.

This meant that the Advanced True Martial Art derived from the Longevity Five Qi Technique would be of a higher quality than the Red Tiger Fist.

Although it was still a health-cultivation technique, its direct combat power was not high.

But that was under the premise of it being his main True Martial Art; currently, he was primarily practicing the Red Tiger Fist.

Therefore, concurrently practicing this health-cultivation technique would not only fail to reduce his strength but would instead make his explosive power stronger and more enduring, undoubtedly greatly enhancing his combat effectiveness.

He nodded slightly; once the Red Tiger Fist was perfected, he could upgrade the Longevity Five Qi Technique to the High-Level True Martial Realm. In any case, the Potential Points consumed would not be many, and the gains outweighed the costs.

*Knock, knock, knock. *

That night, Qin Jiang sat quietly at the table visualizing the Red Tiger Leap Stream Diagram when a knocking sound suddenly rang out outside the room.

"Who is it?"

"Sir, it's me, Zheng Deyu." Zheng Deyu's voice came from outside the door.

"Come in, the door isn't locked," Qin Jiang said.

*Creak—* Zheng Deyu pushed the door open and entered, having already changed into a set of clean clothes.

He gently closed the room door, walked before Qin Jiang, took a cloth bundle from his bosom, and carefully opened it to reveal a palm-length silver hairpin with somewhat crude workmanship.

"Sir, this lowly one truly has nothing to thank you with. This hairpin is an heirloom of my family, originally intended for my wife, but I never expected—they truly deserve to die, Sir!"

Zheng Deyu's eyes were filled with moisture, and he struggled to keep the tears from falling.

"I have no use for it; keep it yourself. You also don't need to do such things; none of them will be able to run," Qin Jiang said.

Zheng Deyu shook his head hurriedly. "No, no! Sir, you must accept it! Although this hairpin isn't good-looking, it's still worth a few taels of silver once melted down!"

As he spoke, he presented the silver hairpin directly to Qin Jiang.

Qin Jiang frowned slightly, raised his hand to push it away, and said, "I said I don't want it, give it to me."

Zheng Deyu was stunned, then nodded rapidly. "Oh, oh, oh! This lowly one will place it on the table for you."

"Alright, is there anything else? If there's nothing, then go," Qin Jiang said.

"Yes, yes, yes! Leaving now, this lowly one is leaving now." Zheng Deyu bowed and backed away, pushing the door open to leave. After he left, Qin Jiang picked up the silver hairpin and walked to the room door, watching Zheng Deyu's departing back.

Closing the door, he sat back at the table and looked at the panel's notification.

【Potential Point absorbing. 0.1 0.2 0.1】

A total of 2.1 Potential Points were added; although not many, it was better than nothing.

However, he had not expected that Zheng Deyu would actually have such a treasure in his hands.

Perhaps he could have people collect some such ancestral heirlooms in the villages near Black Mountain City.

By the way, there were also some Zuchi and local shrines to deities that he should find time to check out as soon as possible.

Previously, after investigating the antique shops and pawnshops in Black Mountain City, because he had first come into contact with tombstones, he had mainly looked for places like mass graves, and the harvest was equal to zero.

This time, he didn't know how much of a harvest he could get.

*Bang, bang, bang! * "Boss! Boss! Boss! It's bad!"

The next morning, a burst of urgent knocking was accompanied by Tian Shangfei's anxious shouting.

On the table inside the room, Qin Jiang opened his eyes, and a black-red Sha energy with a subtle gritty texture drifted from his clear, black-and-white pupils.

*Hoo—* He took a deep breath, exhaling the turbid air of the night, and rose to go to the door and open it.

"What is it?"

The baleful aura that had not yet fully dissipated drifted out with the airflow, causing Tian Shangfei's body to tremble.

"Boss, people have died again," Tian Shangfei said, his eyes carrying a hint of panic.

He had been guarding the village entrance all last night, and there had been no movement in the village at all, yet early this morning, someone discovered corpses.

"Where? Let's go take a look," Qin Jiang said.

"They are still at yesterday's open ground, laid out together with the corpses of those miners," Tian Shangfei said.

The two walked toward the outside of the courtyard; when they reached the gate, Qin Jiang suddenly looked back at the courtyard, then gently pulled the wooden door shut.

Arriving at yesterday's open ground, four brand-new corpses were laid out together.

Qin Jiang walked over and lightly touched the arm of one of them with his finger; an icy cold sensation traveled from his fingertip.

Cold as ice—this was precisely one of the characteristics of Weird power.

Looking at their faces, they were hideous, with eyeballs protruding and bearing intense fear, much like the corpses of those miners; the cause of death should be the same for all of them.

"Boss, how should we handle this?" Tian Shangfei asked.

Qin Jiang stood up and looked around; the villagers had gathered in a circle, watching the corpses on the open ground. Some were grieving, some were relieved, and some were even about to laugh out loud.

Hmm, it was Zheng Deyu.

"Burn them. Yin energy has entered their bodies; if we leave them any longer, they might turn into zombies."

He looked at the miners' corpses; yesterday he had someone lift the cloth covers to let them be exposed to the sun.

But even so, their skin had already begun to show a faint dark-blue hue.

"Right, investigate the situation of these few people," he instructed.

"Understood, Boss."

Tian Shangfei responded, then waved his hand to summon a few gang members, "Dig a pit and burn them all."

After speaking, he raised his hand again, thought for a moment, and said, "Prepare some lime powder; soak the ashes after burning them as well."

Qin Jiang looked at him with some surprise, and Tian Shangfei scratched his head, "Hong Jie taught us all of this."

Hearing the name Hong Jie, Qin Jiang was slightly dazed, "Is my sister also in the Six Halls?"

Tian Shangfei shook his head, "That's not it. Previously, neither the Six Halls nor the Four Halls had a Hall Master, and the Gang Leader wanted to merge the Six Halls into the Four Halls, which is why we were working under Hong Jie."

"Later, Elder Chen took over the management of the Six Halls, and they were separated again."

Qin Jiang nodded, "So that's how it is."

Clip! Clop-clop! Clip!

A chaotic sound of horse hooves rang out; Meng An returned with many gang members, and a person was laid horizontally across his horse, tied tightly with hemp rope.

Whoa~~!

The horse stopped, and Meng An threw the figure tied with hemp rope off the horse.

"Ouch~ Ouch~"

The figure fell to the ground and let out a painful wail; Meng An flipped off his horse and stepped directly onto the figure's head.

"Boss! I'm back late! This kid doesn't know where he learned some kind of light-body technique, he could really run!"

(End of this chapter)